This year she presented 13 courses of truffle laden goodness. And goodness is the word that comes to mind here. Well, wait no. I think greatness is a better word. Because these truffles are of the highest Italian quality. They were supplied by Franco De Gaetano, who heads the Los Angeles branch of Sabatino Tartufi, one of the biggest importers of fresh truffles from Italy and the manufacturer of high quality truffle salt, truffle butter and truffle oil.

I was taken by all the dishes Erika created. But there were quite a few other bloggers at this event so I quickly dibs-ed the potato appetizer as the special treat I would present to you here at Sippity Sup.

To me potatoes and truffles are a magical combination. These were the truffliest potatoes I ever tasted too! That’s because Erika slathered them in truffle butter, then sprinkled them with truffle salt. Then, as if that weren’t enough– she grated fresh black truffle onto them (in massive quantities). Now truffles may be a rare and exotic (and expensive) taste treat. But it’s definately a more is more kind of food in my book. So like I said, these potatoes were legendary.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the potatoes under running water with a brush to ensure the skins are perfectly clean, then dry them in a clean dish towel – you want them to be dry when you put them in the oven. Scatter the potatoes on a baking sheet and pour over the olive oil; shake the pan until the potatoes are evenly coated with the oil, or use your hands to toss them around.

Slide the baking sheet into the oven and roast the potatoes about 40 minutes, or until they are tender when you poke them with a knife or toothpick. Remove the pan from the oven and dump the potatoes into a mixing bowl. Add the truffle butter, truffle salt and grated cheese and toss. If it’s summer truffle season and you can afford one of the precious nuggets of earthy goodness (much less expensive than the winter truffles), grate as much truffle as you like over the bowl, and toss again.

Serve with toothpicks as an hors d’oeuvre at your next cocktail party and watch your guests swoon.